Sunday, May 13, 2012

Today we had another free day. We took a ferry over to a beach town called Vung Tau south of Saigon. In the morning we got to go to the beach. Tran had different games for us to play on the beach. The first one was a dance-imitation game like the one we played before. The next one involved pairs of people tying their ankles together as if they were running in a 3-legged race. We had balloons tied to each ankle and we had to try to pop each other’s’ balloons while staying in a small triangular area tied off on the beach. That one was pretty hard. The next game had each team lined up 50 or so feet from the water. We had to take turns running to the sea to get water and running back to our team where we had to fill as much of a bottle as we could with the water. Lastly we had to line up again and sit on the sand with our feet hooked around each other to make a chain. We had to race like that to the water. Our team gave up pretty quickly, and we ran into the water. The body of water that we were in was the South China Sea. The water was surprisingly calm and warm. It was incredibly hot and sunny, but somehow I managed not to get burnt.

Next, we had lunch at this little restaurant that overlooked the sea. The architecture and decorating was stunning. There were birdcages all around the restaurant, which was sort of different. They served a lot of seafood, including these little squid that still had their tentacles and everything all attached. I decided to skip those. After lunch, we went for a little hike. Vung Tau has a massive statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched at the top of the mountain, just like Rio de Janiero. We climbed a whole lot of steps up to the top of the mountain to reach the statue. The walkway was absolutely beautiful. I think this is my favorite thing we have seen so far. The mountainside was covered in trees and shrubbery with white, pink, and orange blossoms as well as palms. As you ascend, there are white marble statues of different biblical scenes, such as Moses holding up the Ten Commandments and Abraham with his son Isaac. I tried to take lots of pictures because it was difficult to appreciate just how lovely everything was while climbing up all those stairs. The last statue on the way up was one of Mary holding her son after the Crucifixion. The final stairs led directly to the massive statue of Jesus. At the base were golden carvings of scenes from Holy Week, such as the Last Supper and Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate. Surrounding the statue were gardens with gorgeous flowers and more statues. My favorite was one of Mary holding baby Jesus. She was standing in a pond with lily pads and more flowers. There were dragonflies flying all around. There weren’t very many people at the top of the mountain, and most were being quiet and respectful. Looking out onto Vung Tau, there was a beautiful view of the beach and all of the little fishing boats that are iconic of Vietnam. People were able to go inside the statue and climb onto observation decks that were on Jesus’ shoulders, but we didn’t go inside because it was expensive. Climbing back down the mountain we had a little more time to look around and take pictures.

Restaurant for Lunch

Jesus Statue

View from Ferry

Last night, we had dinner at an American restaurant called Black Cat that Mr. Bach recommended to us. We all got hamburgers with fries and a Coke. It actually made my stomach hurt since it’s been so long since I’ve had anything with grease. It tasted so good though. Afterwards we went to a rooftop bar called GO 2. There were a lot of Americans and other foreigners there just relaxing and having a good time.